. that's "hardball" for now, thanks for being with us, all in with chris hayes starts right now. good evening from new york, i'm chris hayes. as republicans stand in obstruction of yet another president obama judicial nominee today, senate majority leader harry reid is strongly hinting he is are ready to push the button. ready to do the one thing he can do, the thing he could have done all along to end this epidemic of republican filibusters. harry reid today says he's actively considering the nuclear option. >> president and democratic senators are pondering the nuclear option. >> people are angry, they're talking about the nuclear option. >> republicans continue their

filibuster. >> democratic leader harry reid has threatened to invoke the nuclear option. >> so-called nuclear option. >> all we have to do is then the nuclear option. >> senate majority leader harry reid has gotten close to pushing the button on the nuclear option. >> but at the last moment, he's opted to talk things out instead. this time could be different. today, senate republicans blocked robert wilkins from joining the d.c. circuit court of appeals. it's the third nominee in a row that republicans have full bustered and they filibustered these appointments not because of the nominee's character or their positions. the president cannot appoint anyone to the d.c. circuit court of appeals. the second most powerful court in the country. this is not normal behavior.

>> this president has a lower percentage of -- that either george w. bush or bill clinton. the democrats don't have to accept it. harry reid -- option, simple majority vote that would change the senate rules so that nominees could be approved. instead, the republicans have counted on to obstruct. senator reid he is reluctant. threat to change the rules, but each time, he and mitch mcconnell have come to a gentleman's agreement. in january 2011 -- >> today's bipartisan agreement

is. it is promptly broken by republicans and the obstruction continues. this is not a way to govern, there's glowing momentum for harry reid to act. even vice president joe biden said it's worth considering the nuclear option. and today, both barbara boxer and dianne fienstein join a growing number of senate democrats in support of the nuclear option. harry reid today said once again he is actively weighing the nuclear option. >> one of the leading advocates of filibuster reform. your mission if you choose to accept it, to convince me that this is not groundhog day. we played some tape of, says

this has spent the majority leader's patient and we're going to -- >> we have had a lot of sentiment in the senate that we should try to restore the social contract. but unfortunately, each time we think we have that understanding, it's deeply abused and certainly in january of this year, mitch mcconnell promised and i quote, a return to the norms and traditions of the senate nominations. >> why would anyone think he was telling the truth? everyone who saw that who's been following this, knows that's the thing he says before swiftly embarking upon violating said norms and traditions. >> just in july, when 51

senators said they were ready to change the rules, again, at that last moment, there was a promise made and this time there was initial delivery, there was a large slate of folks that were blocked that had up and down votes. the nominee for the federal housing agent which was blocked. it's very different now but to say that this person or that person has this problem with their background, but simply, we're not going to approve anyone that lets president obama fill the vacancies on the court, that is in a whole new realm and that's producing the change where i think we're going to finally see the change. >> we have seen the trajectory

of this idea, just within the democratic caucus in the united states senate, the idea has gotten more and more popular. is that right? i mean i remember talking to you years ago where you were one of a very small handful of voices saying we have to do this. >> i think when tom udall and i started talking about this, we had initially maybe 20 folks who were supportive, we had 46 that supported this general idea, by january 2011, but not a deep conviction, not a movement, and not an outside group pushing on senators to make this place the u.s. senate function. realize that the harder republican strategy is a deep violation of constitutional principles. the constitutional principle is that you have three co-call barrages.

>> riling now what is being contemplated, should the nuclear operation apply in this case, it would apply to appointees by the judicial branch, is there a case to be made that it would actually be reversed, that your lifetime appointment to the judicial branch, but for routine bits of legislation, that it's insane to have this defactor supermajority requirement. >> let's think about the nominations, the executive versus judicial. and i think you were saying legislative versus judicial. well, fair enough point, but the conversation has really been different. it's been about executive nominees serve two to four years, judges serve for a lifetime. shouldn't there still be a filibuster to block certain judges. the republicans said either you

stop blocking them and give them up and down votes or changing the rules so a simple majority. so if there's anyone who thinks we can actually preserve the filibuster for the future, to block, that is a terrible nominee by the other party. >> one of those nominees is sitting on the d.c. appeals court. a quick reminder about why is -- why is the d.c. court of appeals, which is the court in question here, the president has nominated three different people to fill seats, there is a lot of vacancies, why is this the site of this most intense -- anywhere outside of the supreme court and in some respects even more intense than the supreme court? >> it's an easy answer, chris, it's two parts, one is that this is the court that's passed with oversight of all the appeals that come up from all the agencies, so they're the court, the d.c. circuit has been the

one that's been with the gop majority. getting environmental rules, getting union rules, getting the president e president's -- so they have quite a portfolio. the other reason is it's just seen as the springboard court to the u.s. supreme court. so when you're putting someone up on this court, it's kind of a given that their next stop could well be the supreme court. >> there are three nominees in question here. is the case republicans are making that these three are just crazily outside the main stream or they're not sufficiently

credenti credentialed, what is the case against them? >> she's completely deranged, she's advocating for women's equality, what's next? and they really tried to make an ideological case. who was just vote quoting him. so that didn't work out very well. so there was this second line of defense, wifs okay, okay, she's not that bad and the other two are actual fine. so then we went to the second prong of the attack, which is the d.c. circuit just doesn't have anything to do. we don't need to fill those three vacancies. that was debunked almost immediately by very, very conservative judges.

and that brings us exactly what you posit today, which is you know, we're just not going to confirm anybody that obama puts up because it would be court packing if he were to fill vacancies. >> the republican party has dealt with the political challenge of placing their nominees on this court sufficiently. democrats did put up quite a fight for those nominees. the response of republicans was to essentially choose increasingly radical and more i'd logically extreme nominees and basically precipitate a conversation with the senate. that has not been this white house's response. the white house's response will be we will move as far as we need to. >> the asymmetry isn't towards

treating your judges. i think it's clear that george w. bush immediately on being elected sited in rose garden with his slate of judges that says i'm going to push these people through, and if he didn't get through, he renominated them. he pushed. president obama has been very, very clear, chris, that judges are not his thing, he thinks change should come from legislators not skrjudges. he doesn't push the way bush did and then they don't get confirmed. >> he's author of senate proc d procedu procedure. i'm sure you have it right next to you as you're watching television at this moment. allan, people are a little bit disbelieving as you say, it actually is the case, senate majority leader harry reid could

really just change the rules of the senate with a simple majority vote. as the ultimate authority on questions of senate procedure, he can do that, right? >> yes he can do that, he can do that on rulings from the presiding officer that affirms the point of order, that sustains the point of order that senator reid might possibly make. he has the power to -- >> we think about the filibuster institutions, we talk about very high stakes political battles in which the vote centers around can you get 60 votes. there's political success and failure on the line, and at the same time there's a matter of procedure, you could just get

rid of it tomorrow. why does it stay? >> the senate to me in the manner in which it protects the prerogatives of the minority, there has been an implicit contract between senate majorities and minorities that the majority accords the minority the -- it is i believe essential that there be some entity within the federal government where a minority party where individuals are empowered, empowered to participate. the mechanism for doing that is the fact that there's no limitation. >> isn't h that a bargain?

are we seeing things now in -- the refusal to, you know, confirm any give an up down vote to anyone who's nominated, regardless of credentials. have we seen a deterioration in those reforms? >> am very much concerned that the norms have been eroded. >> harder and harder for the former senate parliamentarians of the world to defend the unique progreerogatives of the united states senate. >> he put the gun in my freakin' face and told me to get the

[ bleep ] out. >> no, get out of here. that was just part of a 911 call made yesterday by george zimmerman's girlfriend. that's george zimmer marine and that story is ahead. ith family. [ woman 2 ] to carry on traditions. [ woman 3 ] to come together even when we're apart. [ male announcer ] in stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and more, swanson makes holiday dishes delicious. so i can't afford to have germy surfaces. but a fresh sheet of bounty duratowel leaves this surface cleaner than a germy dishcloth. it's durable. and it's 3 times cleaner. so ditch your dishcloth and switch to bounty duratowel. ♪ [ male announcer ] 1.21 gigawatts. today, that's easy. ge is revolutionizing power. supercharging turbines with advanced hardware and innovative software. using data predictively to help power entire cities. so the turbines of today...

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seven score and ten years ago, the gettysberg address. today's the 150th anniversary of the gettysberg address. president lincoln reminds every one of the founding principle all men are created equal. well, what was the -- if the gettysberg address were delivered today, what would fox news have to say about it? we'll be right back.

george zimmerman was in court today. >> he just broke my glass table, you just broke my sunglasses and you put your gun in my freakin' face. get out of here. the shotgun and -- he took and smashed my table and smashed my sunglasses, he smashed whatever else he's smashing while i'm outside. >> so he had a shotgun and an ar-15? >> yes. >> this is the 911 call made shortly afterwards. >> you want to know the truth? >> okay, the officer can speak with you on scene.

have you spoken with them? >> no, but -- >> the officers are upset? >> yeah, they're banging on the door and the window. >> she's pregnant with our child and she told me it was better if we were co-parents and she raised the child on her own. that's fine. i said are you sure this is what you want to do and she said yes. as soon as i packed up my stuff to leave, she said she changed. >> zimmerman was in court today in seminole county, florida over that altercation. zimmerman's defense lawyer says he will be cleared of wrong doing. the judge also ordered zimmerman to stay away from guns and ammunition and to stay away from his girlfriend. zimmerman's arraignment is set for january 7.

a ticket for another speeding incidents and was involved in a domestic dispute with his estranged wife shelly zimmerman. and at 4:30 p.m. today, zimmerman posted board and was released from the john pope correctional facility. zimmerman's estranged wife served him with divorce papers. is the fact that he calls the cops afterwards to get on the record with his side of the story and if you don't know anything about him and you don't know any of the context, he sounds reasonable and calm and i remembered that video that we all saw played in that trial in which he's getting to tell his

side of the story to cops the morning after reasonably and calmly and i thought, that is the part the jury saw, this george zimmerman, not the one that was on the other tape with the smashed coffee table. >> you know, there's something to that. i don't know george zimmerman, but i know that guy. it's always when the abuser, he is manipulative, when he or she is manipulative, they tend to make situations to their own benefit and that's what george zimmerman was doing here. the police were outside his door. he could have gone outside and made his statement to police. he chose to call 911 for a couple of reasons, number one, he could have his narrative without question on the phone with the 911 operator. he was making certain that his

side of the story, his manipulated side of the story was going to be on the record. >> the way in which the presence of a gun changes every interaction is something that was really so overwhelming, overpowering in the trayvon martin case, but also in other things we have covered, the group that was meeting in the suburb of ft. worth, you cannot deny the change to every human interaction that comes from the presence of a gun, particularly a visible and loaded weapon. >> chris, you knew that i was a gun owner nearly every day of my adult life. having a gun in your possession, give you a bit of bravado, a bit of confidence that you otherwise would not have had. i think that we failed george

zimmerman by not getting him the help that he needs. we know there are at least three incidents of domestic violence in which he was involved, we don't know how many others. where is his family, where is the community around him to get him the help that he so desperately needs. whether it's jail time or counseling, whatever it has to be. there are some people who are around him who love and surround him who really ought to be seen around george about now. >> i myself sort of traced this emotional ark and in the beginning there was a weird way in which you kind of derived some sense that the person you thought you knew as being a bad person or done a terrible thing, that this was being shown his true character. for now it feels like watching in slow motion, something terrible unfolding, i completely agree with you, that 911 call,

that 911 call is made thousands and tens of thousands of times in this country every single day, with a partner and with guns around and the thing about guns and their presence in the home is the people that are most threatened by them aren't necessarily teenagers walking home with skittles. they're not random school children in schools, those are the thing that we talk about in the news, it is just women, often in the -- >> you look at the stats around this, chris, a person who owns a gun is more likely to kill someone or hurt someone that kns in his or her house. i'm lucky i say that a gun was not involved in the incidents that happened to me. so i was able to get away, but that phone call, as you said, gets made every single day in this country and it's not only the victims that need help, absolutely they do, they need

safe harbor, they need counseling, they need other than things. george zimmerman is a classic example that has gone through this life without the kind of support he needs and now he has possession of guns, an ar-15 for god's sake. coming up next, well it appears obama care is having some problems here in california and apparently it has not sold even one insurance policy yet on the state exchange. >> what a difference a little over a month makes, the good news obama care story you'll want to hear ahead. in the nation, we know how you feel about your car.

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here is an obama care headline i am reasonably certain will not be featured prominently in tonight's lineup. the federal government is as you probably heard, involved in running the new insurance exchanges in more than 30 states. but relatively few states that chose to implement their own state based exchange, are seeing a wide spectrum of success and failure. failing so far, to enroll a single person. but in california, the state exchange is working exactly the way it's supposed to.

california enrolled more than 30,000 people, which by the way is more than healthcare.gov combined in the 36 states combined where it is running exchanges. california has already doubled its numbers in the first couple of weeks of november. california is now on track to hit its 2014 enrollment party. let me say that again, california, the most populous state in the country is on track to meet its enrollment target next year. enrollment is picking up in other states too, in connecticut, minnesota and in washington state. the only state in the south both expanding medicaid and operating a fully state based exchange. by comparison, just under 3,000

people signed up for private plans in texas during that time, a state with more than six times as many people as kentucky and does not have a state run exchange. here's why else kentucky's is fascinating it just happens to be home to one of -- mitch mcconnell, who just happens to be up for re-election next year, a race he will not have to run. joining me now -- offer of consumer information insurance oversight, office responsible forme for implements obama care. were you surprised to read about the success in california and connecticut and minnesota and washington in the l.a. times today? >> no, i wasn't, let's take california for example, in california, you have a very supportive legislature and supportive governor, you also have an exchange which is

strong, that is which negotiates with plans and has standardized the benefit package to a certain extent. that's opposed the federal exchange. so the california exchange has really used its bargaining power. it also has a much better procurement process in california. the federal procurement process is a nightmare. california's not as bad, and then finally, california is well funded. i think it's important to hone in on this.

take away the federal exchanges for a second and just look at the 20 states implementing it. how do you explain the massive wide variation in implementing essentially the same project. >> some has to do with the management. a very good management, a very experienced head in california, and also in connecticut. so mlgts has something to do with it. you see this in connecticut too. we don't underestimate how important it is to use the bargaining power it has. number two it forces insurers to

compete on price. and third, it makes the technology a little easier. i don't want to overstate that, but where there's a simpleler system with fewer benefit packages, the technology is easier. and obviously that's one thing that we can state is very, very important. when you're going to work working on imp men indication on this law, how much does a political threat from republicans hang over what you were doing? >> well, it hung over it a lot. it hung over us a lot. it was an opposition to obama care was probably more committed to obstructing obama care and destroying obama care, than we were to implementing it in the -- despite the opposition, in the states. you know, if he's -- i don't want to second guess, by had

there -- it's conceivable, had there been more of an effort to establish the federal exchange earlier and focus on that, rather than to cajole some of those other states, it's quite possible that the federal exchange would be up and running eventually they had to go and bill these exchanges. thank you so much. mes on. it's our job to make sure that it does. using natural gas this power plant can produce enough energy for about 600,000 homes. generating electricity that's cleaner and reliable, with fewer emissions-- it matters. ♪

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different variations of the song, proving a classic is a classics no matter how many times you hear it. lincoln meets the digital age. it's the 150th anniversary of his gettysberg address. the fact remains that coverage of this moment in history was sorrily lacking compared to today. imagine what it would be like if today's media covered the gettysberg address. but also the right wing, honestly abe, that speech was a civil bore. lincoln's hip-hop address failed to end the civil war. of course, hcourse--kids grow u, don't they? one day they look like this and the next day they look like this. seems like yesterday you were feeding them a bottle. now he's all grown up.

these photos are all part of a collection showing children's photos re-created by their adult counterpart. all these folks should be commended for embracing their past, not hiding from them. after all, who wouldn't want to be this relaxed. this guy gets it. that looks comfortable. sorry about that, woibls. we'll be right back. americans take care of business. they always have. they always will.

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right now there are quiet high level negotiations behind closed doors taking place in washington. while the -- cuts to so-called bite mment programs, at least by washington standards, may well be revolutionary. >> we must reform our largest entitlement programs. >> everyone from the president on down has said that entitlements must be reformed. >> entitlement reform. it's washington state, any time there's a budget -- look to social programs to start

cutting. social security is first on the chopping block. >> i think democrats are being grossly irresponsible by not -- >> social security is funded through 2031. there's even an easy way to keep it sol vent long after that. right now, no one's paying social security taxes on annual income after $114,000. just get rid of that cap and suddenly social security is fully funded for generations. >> by itself, scrapping the cap, could address the 100% of social security projected short fall which is modest and also leave a little left over to pay benefits. >> is real crisis is not skoushl -- after decades of stagnant wages, three in four americans had less than $30,000 in their retirement account.

those people are the test subjects in america's three decade experiment in funding requirement privately. out with the pensions and in with the 401(k)s. that experiment is failing. >> 401(k) plans really place the burden on the individual participant to have an adequate retirement. and the vast majority of ordinary people don't know how to do that, it's a very complex task. >> many americans over the age of 65 are struggling to make ends meet, even with social security benefits. >> gloria hobbs says without her social security checks, she would be homeless for sure. and even with that money, hobbs still struggles. >> sometimes what i do is fill half of the prescription and take a half a pill, which is not good. >> the crisis has prompted a

group of lawmakers to push an idea that to the deficit -- sounds like heresy. what if instead of cutting social security, we expand it? >> right now more people than ever are on the edge of financial disaster once they retire. >> senator elizabeth warren is among the growing chorus on capitol hill calling for increased benefits for seniors. one proposal would increase benefits by an average of $70 a month. that money is likely to go right back into the economy where it is so desperately needed. social security is so popular, that the -- keep seniors from falling into poverty. now remarkably, they're facing a similar challenge once again. >> a member of the senate and a member of the u.s. house, both of them want to expand social security, we're going to talk to

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earlier in the show, we asked you what fox news would say if the gettysberg address were delivered today. we got tons of answers posted to our face book account. david who thinks fox's line would be government for the people, but a socialist. finally cynthia says he wasn't wearing a flag pin. [ male announcer ] welcome back all the sweet things your family loves

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member of the senate finance committee, and congressman jim mcdermott, from the house ways and means which also deals with social security. you're one of a few co-sponsors of a bill that would raise social security benefits.

how does that work? >> it works the way it should work. the debate frankly has been all about the discussion of how do we reform entitlements. they reform entitlements. they say we need to fick social security or save social security. the debate should not be about how much we're going to cut social security, the debate should be about retirement security and the graph you had is so few people have much savings, fewer people have defined pension benefits, that's why isles so important to social security. it really reflects an older person, a retiree's cost of living itself and why it's so important that we do a little bit more and give them a little bump up one more point that social security now in about a third of americans, on social

security rely on social security for their entire income. it's not like they're getting rich from this. it's $1,200, $1,300 a month, basically. >> if you're looking at a congress that refuses to face the fact that the pension system in this country is being eroded very rapidly. you saw governors all over the country, attacking public employees pensions, you've seen companies go into bankruptcy. i fly back and forth on united. and i have flown almost 4 million miles. and all the flight attendants who are over 40 years old are talking about the fact that they will have to work until they're 70 or 75 years old because they were pension system was lost in the two bankruptcies that united airlines has gong through.

that's exactly the move from a defined benefit program, to a 401(k) program, they're going right at the security of those workers in seattle. and that's happening all through the workforce in this country, social security is the only thing that enron people had. when enron went to the ground, they still had social security and that's true for an awful lot of people in this country, and we ought to be thinking about how we can strengthen the program and making it stronger. we all to scrap the cap, i couldn't find any button this morning, i have a scrap the cap button on any coat here. because that's really what we a ought to do. >> the point you made, i just want to take a second, because it is so important.

we have asked people to save money and put them in their 401(k)s, at the same time wages have -- assemble enough wealth to live out in retirement with a good standard of living and if you happen to be retiring on the eve of a financial crisis, then you're out of luck. >> we're simply saying that everybody should pay the same percentage of their income in

social security. not strengthen it by cutting it. but will strengthen it because it will have more revenue. and as you said, that money, the woman that you interviewed from youngstown, if she gets a $70 a month increase, that money goes right into the economy in youngstown. it gives her the opportunity to live with a little higher standard of living. >> are any republicans on your side of the capitol hill and the house going along with something like this? >> i think it's going to take a movement from the people and the people have got to start sending in messages to their congressmen who say we don't want you to cut

social security, but increase it. i think scrap the cap is a good slogan for them to use. you're going to find that more and more people are going to be pressing their congressmen about this. >> in a little town, we just raised the minimum wage to $15. it was done by the people. >> that is all for this evening. the rachel maddow show starts now. thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. the various branchs of the united states military all offer a service academy. that's about an hour north of new york city, west point new york. the united states navel academy, it is in a beautiful spot in downtown annapolis, maryland.